For this ocean dweller, ability to respond to warming waters is about location

It’s common knowledge that, through the process of natural selection, organisms adapt to their environments. But what happens when there are no barriers to gene flow and organisms are free-floating between extremely variable environmental conditions? A new study by UConn…

Tasmanian devil research could help tackle immunotherapy resistance

A cluster of interacting proteins that are active in both human cancers and Tasmanian devil facial tumours, may give clues to how cancers evade the immune system, according to a study part-funded by Cancer Research UK and published in Cancer…

2019 Science in Society Journalism Award winners announced

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2019 Science in Society Journalism Awards, sponsored by the National Association of Science Writers: In the Book category, She Has Her Mother’s Laugh: The Powers, Perversions and Potentials of Heredity ,…

Engineered protein crystals make cells magnetic

If scientists could give living cells magnetic properties, they could perhaps manipulate cellular activities with external magnetic fields. But previous attempts to magnetize cells by producing iron-containing proteins inside them have resulted in only weak magnetic forces. Now, researchers reporting…

Discovery of sorghum gene that controls bird feeding could help protect crops

A single gene in sorghum controls bird feeding behavior by simultaneously regulating the production of bad-tasting molecules and attractive volatiles, according to a study publishing September 23 in the journal Molecular Plant . This gene, called Tannin1, controls the synthesis…

DNA is held together by hydrophobic forces

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, disprove the prevailing theory of how DNA binds itself. It is not, as is generally believed, hydrogen bonds which bind together the two sides of the DNA structure. Instead, water is the key.…

Researchers find building mutations into Ebola virus protein disrupts ability to cause disease

ATLANTA–Creating mutations in a key Ebola virus protein that helps the deadly virus escape from the body’s defenses can make the virus unable to produce sickness and activate protective immunity in the infected host, according to a study by the…

Pew funds six research teams to pursue scientific discoveries

PHILADELPHIA–The Pew Charitable Trusts announced today the six pairs of researchers who will make up its 2019 class of Innovation Fund investigators. These investigators–alumni of Pew’s biomedical programs in the United States and Latin America–partner on interdisciplinary research to tackle…

Global warming makes it harder for birds to mate, study finds

New research led by the University of East Anglia (UEA) and University of Porto (CIBIO-InBIO) shows how global warming could reduce the mating activity and success of grassland birds. The study examined the threatened grassland bird Tetrax tetrax, or little…

More predictive genetic risk score sought for type 1 diabetes

AUGUSTA, Ga. (Sept. 16, 2019) – Paul Tran is working to develop a highly predictive genetic risk score that will tell parents whether their baby is at significant risk for type 1 diabetes. The ultimate goal, says the MD/PhD student…

Harnessing tomato jumping genes could help speed-breed drought-resistant crops

Researchers from the University of Cambridge’s Sainsbury Laboratory (SLCU) and Department of Plant Sciences have discovered that drought stress triggers the activity of a family of jumping genes (Rider retrotransposons) previously known to contribute to fruit shape and colour in…

Palmer amaranth’s molecular secrets reveal troubling potential

URBANA, Ill. – Corn, soybean, and cotton farmers shudder at the thought of Palmer amaranth invading their fields. The aggressive cousin of waterhemp – itself a formidable adversary – grows extremely rapidly, produces hundreds of thousands of seeds per plant,…

Does adrenaline give you superhero strength? (video)

WASHINGTON, Sept. 12, 2019 — You’ve probably heard stories about mothers lifting cars to save their babies trapped underneath — but are those just urban myths? This week on Reactions, we talk about “superhero strength” and the chemistry behind what’s…

Search tightens for genes driving prostate cancer

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is set up to fund individual projects in fields like genomics, computational biology, and pathology. Now researchers at University of Colorado Cancer Center are taking advantage of an innovative new program in cancer systems biology…